Advisory Board
When selecting the next generation of Ricordilab composers, Ricordi Berlin is supported by an advisory board of internationally renowned experts of the music industry.
Tim Anderson
Anglo-German conductor Tim Anderson is renowned as an interpreter of 20th and 21st century repertoire. He has conducted for companies such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch National Opera, Opera Australia, Semperoper Dresden, Opéra National de Montpellier, and Stadttheater Klagenfurt.
In concert, Tim has appeared with contemporary music ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and London Sinfonietta, as well as with Kärntner Sinfonieorchester, and at venues including Vienna’s Konzerthaus, London’s Southbank Centre and Barbican, and Katowice’s NOSPR Hall. Notable performances by Ricordi composers include Georg Friedrich Haas
11.000 Saiten (Vienna, Prague, Düsseldorf), Lisa Streich
Himmel (Vienna), and the world premiere of Alex Paxton
Candyfolk Space-Drum (London).
Notable operatic repertoire includes Thomas Adès’
Powder Her Face (new production at Semperoper Dresden), Brett Dean’s
Hamlet (Opera Australia, Sydney Opera House), Salvatore Sciarrino's
Il canto s'attrista, perché? and Bernhard Lang’s
Hiob (both world premieres in Klagenfurt), Philip Venables’
Denis and Katya (Amsterdam, Montpellier, London, Wales), Gerald Barry’s
The Intelligence Park (Birmingham), and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s
Greek (30th-anniversary production, London).
Christian Fausch
Christian Fausch has been artistic manager and managing director of the Ensemble Modern GbR and managing director of the German Ensemble Academy e.V. since 2016. He was previously managing director of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, artistic and managing director of the Collegium Novum Zurich and held various positions at the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra: in press and PR, as project manager and assistant to the artistic director. He studied music with a cello major with Patrick Demenga and Antonio Meneses at the Academy of Music of the City of Basel, graduating with a performance degree. He subsequently studied arts management at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.
Andri Hardmeier
Andri Hardmeier, born in Zurich in 1974, first studied musicology and philosophy at the University of Vienna, then theoretical physics and philosophy at the University of Zurich. After graduating in theoretical physics and a further year as a research assistant at the University of Zurich, he decided to work in music theatre. Besides engagements at the Theater Freiburg (artistic director: Barbara Mundel), the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen (artistic director: Elisabeth Schweeger) and the Ruhrtriennale (artistic director: Barbara Frey), Andri Hardmeier has worked as a freelance dramaturg at the Bayreuther Festspiele, Salzburger Festspiele, at Tongyeong International Music Festival, Staatsoper Hannover, Teatro alla Scala, Theater Basel and Theater Aachen, among others. As a dramaturg, he has worked with numerous directors, including Claus Guth, Ludger Engels, Eva-Maria Höckmayr, Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson and Marcus Lobbes. From 2011 to 2022, Andri Hardmeier was head of the music department of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, and since 2024 he has been artistic co-director of the Collegium Novum Zurich.
Vimbayi Kaziboni
Zimbabwean-born conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni is widely sought-after for his depth of approach, interpretive imagination and expressivity, as well as his innovative and thoughtful curation. Kaziboni has led some of the most prestigious orchestras in the world that include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, International Contemporary Ensemble, and the London Sinfonietta. Upcoming debuts include the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchester, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterhur, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. Collaborations with acclaimed soloists have included Pierre Laurent Aimard, Tabea Zimmermann, Claire Chase, Juliet Fraser, and Steven Schick among many others. Recently appointed conductor-in-residence of Klangforum Wien, Kaziboni also currently serves as artist-in-residence and conductor of the International Contemporary Ensemble, music director of the Composers Conference and artistic advisor of the Boston Lyric Opera.
Bernhard Lang
Bernhard Lang was born on 24 February 1957 in Linz. His engagements as composer-in-residence include the Theater Basel (2007/08) and “Capell Composer” of the Staatskapelle Dresden (2008/09). As one of the most renowned contemporary composers of his generation, Lang has written numerous scores in virtually every genre – ranging from varied large-scale chamber, ensemble, choral and orchestral works to digital, electronic and computer-generated compositions, remixes, sound installations, jazz, rock, punk, and techno as well as film music, radio plays, stage music, dance and music-theatre pieces. Bernhard Lang’s creative drive and wealth of invention are unlimited and indefatigable.
Music theatre is a particular passion of Bernhard Lang, whose oeuvre in those genres currently comprises 16 works. His latest opera
Dora was named “World premiere of the year” by the renowned magazine “Opernwelt”.
The composer enjoys close collaborations with ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Recherche, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Musikfabrik and Ensemble Mosaik as well as with the singers Sarah Maria Sun and Salome Kammer, the violinist Ilya Gringolts, the clarinettist Gareth Davis and the double bassist Uli Fussenegger.
Bernhard Lang’s awards and honours include the Music Prize of the City of Vienna in 2008, the “Outstanding Artist Award” in the category of music (composition) from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Art and Culture in 2014, and the Austrian Art Prize for Music in 2019.
In 2003 Lang was appointed Professor of Composition at the University of the Arts in Graz, a post he held until his retirement in 2022.
Angélica Negrón
Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist. She writes music for voices, orchestras, and film as well as robots, toys, and plants. Angélica is known for playing with the unexpected intersection of classical and electronic music, unusual instruments, and found sounds.
Recent premieres include works for Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Santa Rosa Symphony & Eugene Symphony (First Symphony project), and her Carnegie Hall debut, commissioned and performed by Sō Percussion. As the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Angélica composed a new work synchronized to the setting sun, inspired by solar pulses captured by NASA, for EnsembleNewSRQ.
Her musical education includes early studies at El Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico under Alfonso Fuentes—while making waves as a member of San Juan’s local DIY music scene—and later studies both at NYU under Pedro da Silva and The Graduate Center (CUNY) under Tania León. An educator herself, Angélica became a teaching artist with NY Phil’s Very Young Composers program (2013-2021) and with Lincoln Center Education (2014-2018), guiding young artists in creative composition projects.
Elena Schwarz
Since winning the Trondheim Competition in 2014 and becoming a Dudamel Fellow in 2018/19,
Elena Schwarz has become highly in demand as a guest conductor with orchestras in Europe, the US and
Australia. She has conducted orchestras including the Philharmonia, Royal
Philharmonic, The Hallé, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Gulbenkian Orchestra. She recently
made her debut with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the prestigious Zaterdag
Matinee series at the Concertgebouw.
Schwarz’s guest engagements in 2024/25 include her debut with Vienna Symphony, Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Barcelona Symphony and Bilbao
Orkestra Sinfonikoa, as well as return engagements to BBC Philharmonic, WDR Sinfonieorchester,
San Diego Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Bremen Philharmoniker and Orchestre Philharmonique
de Liège. Appointed Resident Conductor of Klangforum Wien from 2024, she is an enthusiastic advocate of
new music, also working with specialist contemporary ensembles such as MusikFabrik, Ensemble
Intercontemporain and Ensemble Modern, championing works by Clara Iannotta, Lisa Streich,
Rebecca Saunders, Liza Lim, Nina Senk, Beat Furrer and Sarah Nemtsov, among others.
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Photos: Jeremy Knowles (Anderson), Andreas Etter (Fausch), Caroline Minjolle (Hardmeier), Astrid Ackermann (Kaziboni), Harald Hoffmann (Lang), Catalina Kulczar (Negrón), Mathias Bothor (Schwarz)